French presidential election: in Le Havre, Macron defends his energy course

Audio 01:20

Emmanuel Macron and his former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe during a visit to the Siemens Gamesa factory in Le Havre on April 14, 2022. AFP - LUDOVIC MARIN

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

It is Le Havre, city of its former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, that Emmanuel Macron has chosen for a new campaign trip, under the sign of ecology, Thursday April 14.

In search of the votes of the losers of the first round, the president-candidate tried to present himself as the one who carries the most ecologically compatible project.

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With our special correspondent in Le Havre,

The sea on the horizon, Edouard Philippe next to him, always a little behind, like a discreet guest, it is in Le Havre that Emmanuel Macron has chosen to go to talk about ecology.

In the docks, then in a factory where these wind turbines are manufactured that Marine Le Pen no longer wants to see on the territory, in front of the employees, the president-candidate has put forward his desire to develop them.

Our goal is to deploy 40 gigawatts of offshore wind turbines by 2050. That means 50 wind farms.

If it is the project of Mrs. Le Pen which passes, this site stops overnight

Objective: to show that for an environmentalist voter, the good ballot is his, and not that of Marine Le Pen.

With most of the other projects in the Republican field that were in the first round, in particular with the project of Mr. Jadot or Mr. Mélenchon, but it is also true of Mrs. Hidalgo, we had an agreement on the fact that the agreements of Paris were our framework, that 2050 carbon neutrality had to be respected, and that the European agreement was essential

In Le Havre, Emmanuel Macron hammers the environmental issue of the second round

Valerie Gas

But those who were waiting for announcements to influence his project will have been disappointed.

Emmanuel Macron who, since the first round, has shown his desire to unite by making concessions such as on pensions, has not made a move.

I'm not going to propose Jan-Luc Mélenchon's project or Yannick Jadot's project tomorrow, that's obvious.

On the other hand, I find that it is a good democratic breathing if, in coherence with the project that I carry, on which there are the most French people in the first round who carried compared to the other projects;

if I say "I can add such and such, out of respect, because I think it's going in the right direction and it's consistent with mine", I will

Perhaps at the Marseille meeting on Saturday, the next big campaign rally for Emmanuel Macron.

@EmmanuelMacron and @EPhilippe_LH on a platform in the docks of the port of Le Havre pic.twitter.com/aXfleZ2gUT

— Valerie Gas (@VGGAS) April 14, 2022

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• French politics

• Presidential France 2022

• Emmanuel Macron

• Environment

• Energies